Mamadou Sakho almost completed a week to forget for Liverpool by injuring Daniel Sturridge in training ahead of their Premier League game against Newcastle on Sunday.

Sakho was part of the Liverpool defence which collapsed to concede three goals in the final 12 minutes against Crystal Palace on Monday after leading 3-0 after an hour.

And he took his haphazard approach to defending to a new extreme at Liverpool's Melwood training complex when he clumsily floored Sturridge but luckily the England international was not hurt and recovered to see the funny side of the challenge.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch Brendan Rodgers talk ahead of the Newcastle match

Moment of truth: The striker looked in some discomfort after the clumsy tackle by defender Sakho

Off the hook: Luckily for Liverpool and England, Sturridge emerged unscathed and laughed of the incident

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers
seemed in good spirits ahead of the final game of a season which has
seen him re-establish the Reds as a Champions League team and emerge as
unlikely challengers for the Premier League title.

In
his pre-match press conference on Friday, Rodgers said it was important
not to dwell on the points Liverpool have dropped in their last two
games against Palace and Chelsea, but to look forward and aim to imporve
on mistakes.

'It has been excellent,' he said.

'You could see the emotion after the game and that was pretty much the same in the dressing room afterwards.

'But we know the areas we need to improve.

'We
won't dwell on it. You can't think about what might or could have
happened, you can only really focus on what has happened and look
forward to getting better and improving.'

Happy days: Manager Brendan Rodgers and his players look in good spirits at the club's Melwood complex

Rodgers
also insisted that defensively his side have not been good enough this
season and highlighted that as a feature of their play he is keen to improve on in
time for next season.

He said: 'I've watched it (the Palace match) three times since and I'm still in shock when I see us end up drawing the game 3-3.

'To
have that much control and good concentration and organisation in the
game, for it to slip with 12 minutes to go shouldn't happen.

'If
you can't keep your concentration long enough, you'll lose your place.
It's as simple as that - you'll lose your place in the squad.

'We've
played in big games this season and showed real solidity defensively -
but we went away to Cardiff and yes, we scored six goals, but we
conceded three; went away to Stoke, scored five and conceded three;
Palace three; Hull three.

'Yes,
there's an element of quality from the opponent, but I look at and
analyse the games intensely and a big part of it is concentration -
organisation, concentrating on your job.

'But our work is continual. We will really focus on that part of our game over the course of pre-season.

'Like
I said when I came in, we had to improve our goals tally, so we went
from 47 scored in a season (2011-12) to now 99 and whatever it finishes
at this weekend - and we'll do the same with the defence.'